


Mistletoe

by relic_amaranth



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Gender-neutral Reader, M/M, Mistletoe, Other, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 10:26:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16972842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/relic_amaranth/pseuds/relic_amaranth
Summary: Castiel wants to get caught under the mistletoe with you. More than once. Okay; a lot more than once.





	Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Fluff, lots of platonic smooches, some not-so-platonic smooching, everything is fine and nothing hurts in this very alternate S14 world
> 
> A/N: I pulled up some Christmas/winter prompts and started scribbling away. This is one of the ones I ended up liking. Not much to say; I’m brain-dead after a long day and this is a little thing I pumped out because one of the scenes got stuck in my head and made me laugh. Please enjoy.

 

Castiel is staring again.

He knows he shouldn’t, but he can’t help it. He loves humanity– the determination, the unpredictable nature, the unbidden instinctive _love_ that comes out in fierce protectiveness and self-sacrifice– all of which you embody. Dean and Sam too; but especially you. And he loves you for all that you are, and all that you are not.

However he cannot help but believe that, were you an angel, you would have been able to tell his longing by now. Or a psychic. He’d settle for psychic, at this point. Because though he _wants_ , truly _acting_ is…

“They’re gonna have grounds for a restraining order if you keep staring like that.”

Castiel jerks his head away before he recognizes the teasing in Dean’s voice. He turns to scowl at Dean– and Gabriel, who are both laughing at him. Thankfully not loud enough to distract you from where you and Sam are teaching Jack to decorate the tree, but he doubts those two were so ‘considerate’ on purpose.

“How many years has it been?” Gabriel asks.

“Too damn many,” Dean says and takes a drink from his bottle. “Seriously Cas, you already died without saying a word. Do you want it to be like that forever?”

Castiel winces and steals a glance at you. Hearing how distraught you had been during that time was…not good, not in the slightest; but it was affirming. To an extent. “It’s not that easy.”

Gabriel and Dean look at each other and roll their eyes. Castiel pretends not to notice. “Come on, Cas.” Gabriel leans forward and slips a candy cane into the corner of his mouth. “Take advantage of the season!”

Castiel looks over Gabriel’s idea of ‘taking advantage of the season’ in his reindeer antler headband, tree ornament necklace, and obnoxiously fuzzy sweater that has tinsel and such gaudy colors that almost obscure the ridiculous pattern that has Santa Claus at the nativity. Humans are _strange_. And nothing seems to delight Gabriel more.

The archangel even seems delighted by whatever facial expression comes over Castiel’s face as he looks over his outfit, though Gabriel returns to a semblance of normality (as much as he ever can) and shrugs. “You don’t have to get festive,” Gabriel says and leans back. “I’m talking about the ‘goodwill’ and ‘peace’ and ‘love’ aspects of the holiday season. _Especially_ the ‘love.’”

The last is accompanied by a, frankly, obscene roll of his eyebrows. Dean looks disturbed by the sight, until he gets distracted while glancing at Gabriel’s hand. “Where the hell did you get eggnog?”

Castiel has long since stopped asking questions like that. He thinks upon Gabriel’s last point though. “I thought the ‘love’ of the season was more familial in nature.”

“Not necessarily, but it can be,” Gabriel says. He grins, and before anyone can think to try to stop him, snaps his fingers. The library is suddenly fully decorated with garland, tinsel, ribbons, bells, and–

“Seriously? Mistletoe?” Dean says. The name is familiar, but at the moment Castiel can’t recall why.

“It’s a tradition, Cas.” Gabriel points at a little sprig of greenery floating nearby in the air. It is located in several locations, Castiel notes. “If two people stand under it, they’re supposed to kiss.”

“Gabriel!”

All three of them startle at your voice. You’re looking sternly at Gabriel, but Castiel can tell you’re holding back amusement. He loves that almost as much as he loves your smile on full display– anything that makes you laugh cannot possibly be a bad thing. “You said you weren't going to help.”

“I changed my mind. But hey, I left you the tree!” Gabriel says cheerfully, pulling out your smile and cementing himself even further as Castiel’s favorite brother. “By the way– look up!”

You do– and groan once you notice the plant, though you laugh as well. “Seriously, Gabriel?”

Both you and Dean seem to forget that Gabriel rarely does anything seriously if he can help it. Castiel would remind you, but he’s too busy staring again.

“What is it?” Jack asks, looking between all of you for an explanation.

“It’s mistletoe,” you say and explain to him the basics as Gabriel had, though you stress the friendly nature of it. Then, because he is standing next to you, you kiss his cheek.

“Doesn’t have to be that kind of kiss,” Gabriel says under his breath.

It doesn’t. But even that sort of kiss– to feel your lips anywhere upon his person; right now Castiel can’t imagine anything better. He could kiss you himself. He could receive your kisses until he is brave enough to turn his head and make it into something more. “This,” he says, his eyes focused on you, “–could work.”

Dean mutters under his breath, “Don’t forget _who_ came up with this idea.”

Castiel, entirely too fixated on his planning, promptly does just that.

 

Things go well, at first. It only takes him two tries to find himself under the mistletoe with you, and he accepts your kiss with as much calm as he can manage while he catalogues absolutely every aspect of the moment in his mind. The feel of your lips, how much pressure you apply, the feel of your hand on his shoulder to steady you, how hard you breathe– all of it, his own memory.

He doesn’t…give _you_ a kiss, but after you give him yours, you go on your way so Castiel decides there’s no reason to rush now, not when he’s so close. Patience will get him there. Eventually.

After a second occurrence with you goes the exact same way though, Gabriel, having witnessed it, disagrees with Castiel’s analysis.

“This isn’t the time to wait; it’s the time to _act_ ,” Gabriel says, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Just– watch other people, okay?”

Castiel does, but he doesn’t understand Gabriel’s meaning. When Jody and Donna come to visit and exchange gifts, the mistletoe seems like an even better idea. Donna is delighted to find herself under it and yanks both Dean and Sam in so she can give them both kisses they are only partly reluctant to receive. Jody gets caught with Sam and Jack and the two of them kiss her on either cheek. Donna and Gabriel make _everyone_ uncomfortable with how much they overact, and then laugh about it for hours.

There’s even a moment where Dean and Jack stop under one and the room slows to stillness. Jack fidgets, but Dean just sighs and turns his face so Jack can give him a quick peck.

It’s all very heartwarming. Castiel notices, though, soon after Jody and Donna are gone, that you have completely evaded being caught under the mistletoe for the entire visit. He’s still puzzling over that when Gabriel sidles up next to him.

“Do you get it now?” Gabriel says.

“I don’t think so. This is nice,” Castiel says.

“Yeah. Nice. Friendly,” Gabriel says, scoffing when Castiel still fails to comprehend. “Cas, you’re shoving yourself in a box that has ‘PLATONIC’ in big red letters. Do you want them to _always_ think of you like that?”

“No,” Castiel says. “But– what if–”

“They’re not going to flay you, Cas.”

Castiel winces at the nightmare scenario he has imagined thousands of times before. “I wish that was the worst that could happen.”

Gabriel sighs heavily. “You know what? You’re my brother and I care about you. Also, the only pining I can stand anymore only comes in the form of a tree or wreath. I’m going to help.”

Those four words, from Gabriel, can strike terror into _anyone’s_ heart, but when Castiel turns to disagree that he needs it and no, please, don’t, Gabriel has already vanished.

 

Castiel steps carefully after that, but nothing happens. Nothing falls on him, nothing collapses under him, he doesn’t wake in a pocket dimension, there’s no unexpected time travel, everything is…normal.

At first.

Despite Gabriel’s pushing, Castiel _does_ have a plan. It involves getting ‘caught’ under the mistletoe with you another two times, and on the third, attempting to kiss you on the lips. Given that the first two are meant to test the air, the third one hinges entirely upon them.

And Castiel cannot even get _one_.

For all his continued attempts, he can no longer find himself under the mistletoe with you. It’s nothing you’re doing– it’s the mistletoe itself. Rather, it’s _Gabriel_ , but Gabriel does not come back around and refuses to answer Castiel’s calls, both meta- and physical. And then when Castiel goes to Sam and Dean for help? To his friends, with whom he has endured so much?

“Man up,” Dean says.

“You do realize this places you on _Gabriel’s_ side?” Castiel says.

Dean shrugs. “The enemy of my enemy.”

Castiel bristles. “I’m your enemy?”

“Not you; the fucking _tension_ ,” Dean groans and Sam hides his face even more in his book. Dean looks pointedly at Castiel. “You don’t need the mistletoe; just fucking kiss them already.”

Un. Grateful.

 

Of course, if only Dean’s advice could be so easy. It is, in one respect. Castiel wants nothing more than to kiss you. Those two kisses on his cheek have only whet his appetite for more. So much that he almost slips too early.

“You okay, Cas?”

Castiel leans his head back and finds himself looking right at you. He freezes. It would be so easy; all he has to do is lift up and he would be kissing you. Instinctively, he glances to the side and, predictably, sees nothing in the air.

But you glance too, and look back at him with a patient smile. “No, don’t worry; no mistletoe,” you say.

Worry. Castiel swallows his heart back down and says, “I–I’m fine. Did you need something?”

You look relieved. Can Castiel non-metaphorically eat his heart, and will it stop these feelings? He doesn’t think he wants them anymore. “I just wanted to check on you. Good night, Cas.”

“Good night,” he says, and wishes he could sleep to dream of all the terrible things he wants to do to Gabriel for introducing him to something so wonderful and then stealing it away.

 

This does not stop Castiel, though. He studies how and when the mistletoe disappears. It vanishes when you and Castiel are close, but remains when you end up with someone else. You end up with Jack twice, with Sam once, and then with _Dean_ , who grabs you and presses the longest, most exaggerated kiss just barely to the side of your mouth while you laugh.

Castiel ends up with Jack. It’s fine, but not what he wants. Dean avoids him entirely, which is probably good for the hunter’s well-being. The breaking point, though, comes after Castiel has predicted your trajectory and the time involved, and waits under a sprig– only for _Sam_ to almost collide with him.

“Oh; sorry C-” Sam notices the floating greenery and tries to backpedal. “Oh no; n-!”

Castiel grabs Sam’s collar and yanks him down while simultaneously reaching up and grabbing the mistletoe into a very clenched fist. He plants a kiss on Sam’s cheek at the same time he rips the plant from the air, and he walks away to Sam’s bewildered sputtering and Dean’s hysterical laughter.

Castiel doesn’t hesitate; he tracks you down to your room and knocks. He leans against the doorframe in such a way that his arm goes up with it so he can hold the mistletoe above the door. Above him.

When you open the door, though, Castiel realizes his fatal error– he has nothing to say, no excuse to be here.

“Hi Cas,” you say and open your door fully upon seeing him.

“Hello,” he says, frantically searching for some topic to bring up, _anything_ to say.

Unfortunately you notice his arm and follow it up to his hand. Castiel’s very being collapses within him as your eyes widen. Well, he might as well…try. “We…appear to be underneath mistletoe.”

Your lips curve up. “That you appear to be holding.”

You don’t seem displeased, and despite Castiel’s best efforts to suppress it, he feels hopeful. “Yes.”

“Does that mean…” You move your face closer to him but stay just an inch away. If that. “…You want to kiss me?”

Castiel inhales sharply. “Yes.”

Your expression softens. “Cas. All you ever had to do was ask.”

He feels too large for his body; like his grace is tearing at the seams. It isn’t, but– “May I kiss you?”

You smile, wide and genuine. “ _Please_.”

He drops the mistletoe, grabs your sides, and pulls you in. He catalogues everything– your lips, your breath, your body– and, after pausing for a moment to allow you to take a breath, he does it all again. And again.

Somehow, in the midst of kissing and allowing you to breath, the whole ridiculous story of the mistletoe tumbles out of him and you laugh– much to his displeasure. “Aw, sorry Cas,” you say, smiling still, but you grant him another little kiss and he minds that much less. “Sounds like Gabriel cheated you out of a lot of kisses.”

Castiel doesn’t know that it qualifies as a lot, but he does know he likes the suggestive edge of your tone. “Yes.”

You tug on the shoulder of his coat. “Do you want to catch up on them?”

He doesn’t even have to think about it. Castiel leans in and kisses you with the intent to steal your breath. Given the gasp you make when he pulls back, he feels successful. “More than anything,” he says, picks you up, and carries you into your room. The door slams hard enough to make the mistletoe on the floor jump, just before it vanishes entirely.

**Author's Note:**

> Did I really just make a fic just based on a mental image of Castiel planting a wet one on a very reluctant Sam while ripping mistletoe out of mid-air? You betcha I did.


End file.
